


a thorn by any other name

by Fandine



Series: The Foxhole Court [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 08:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10635861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandine/pseuds/Fandine
Summary: Neil's not the only one with more than one name.





	

Kevin reads a lot. People seem surprised whenever they learn that fact. A sports jock like him? An exy player of his caliber?

 

( _What are you doing_ not _playing?_ )

 

He can’t remember when he took reading seriously. It might have been one of those flights from Japan to the US–-or vice versa-–over the Pacific ocean, the ones that just goes on for hours of hours, making Kevin’s jaw ache with how much he chews on the same soon-gone-stale gum to try and pop his ears. The air’s too dry and the coke’s too sweet, and combined with the turbulence, it only makes his stomach turn. Riko always took the window seat so Kevin had an easy getaway if he needed to stretch his legs or puke his guts out in the cramped toilet. Him and Riko used to talk, Riko distracting him with his wild gesticulates and even wilder stories, and the trip would be over much faster than he feared.

Riko doesn’t do that anymore.

 

( _But first, long before Riko stops talking to him, Riko becomes more aggressive on the court._ )

 

The first time, Riko goes up behind Kevin, making him take the window seat in a hurry so they didn’t stop the traffic of irritable people trying to find their place. Riko had sat down, put on his earphones and closed his eyes, and when the hall was cleared of people and Riko still didn’t get up to switch seats, Kevin sat tight and clamped his mouth shut in stubbornness. That first trip had too much turbulence and with Riko serving him the silent treatment, it wasn’t good, to say the least. It took a while for Kevin to be able to stretch his fingers straight out afterwards. Riko had at least given him the arm rest to clench.

The next time, Kevin took a book with him.

 

( _Then,_   _Moriyama calls them to his office and says,_ “Riko. Kenichi.” 

 _Kevin startles at the name. He can feel Riko’s sideways glare burn on his skin, but he doesn’t turn._ )

 

The book is actually interesting. He can’t remember the title, just vaguely recalls a non-fiction about freedom of speech and how it was in danger in today’s society. But it’s so interesting and fascinating a read, he startles when the pilot’s voice informs that they’re landing in ten minutes.

It’s not like Kevin can read books all day–his schedule doesn’t allow that, for one–but whenever he has some dead time, he picks something up, anything really, and begins to read.

 

( _Lastly, because it feels like Kevin was the_ damn last _one to know, he hears the rumors._ )

 

The books begin to blur together in the pace he reads at. It doesn’t help that it feels like he reads ten books at a time. 

So some important people–the kind that rants philosophical about _the question_ , what question you ask, _the question,_ the question about _life_ , to be or not to be, or was it from a fantasy, or perhaps a sci-fi novel? Kevin thinks that he read someplace that there were _scientific proof_ –some important people have theorized about diverging universes. That for every action you do, there’s a universe where you didn’t, where you choose the other out of two options, the third out of three, or something else entirely. That there are so many mirroring universes, you could multiply infinity with infinity and still have more left. 

Kevin wonders.

 

( _”Kenichi?”_ )

 

He wonders, like many other people, he can imagine. But the thing is? Kevin knows his weaknesses, and if he didn't come across it himself, then Riko would make sure he heard about. And Kevin knows he has this tendency to go left. To aim for the left corner of the goal, to evocative with his left side, to instinctively protect his left side from an attack.

 

(KEN’ICHI  健一, From Japanese _健 (ken)_ meaning “healthy, strong" combined with _一 (ichi)_ meaning "one”.)

 

He wonders, and sometime the wondering feels like it's physically making his brain twist around his skull, resulting in sharp pounding that feels like fireworks are set inside his brain. And the thing he wonders about? He wonders what would have happened if he had said no. Turned right instead of left.

Done the right thing.

 

( _”Kenichi?_ Kenichi _?” Riko hisses, his eyes pointing daggers at Kevin. He puts a hand around Kevin’s throat and_ squeezes _. “Are you even truly Japanese? With your Western manners and your broken Japanese tongue? How can you ever turn back to your Japanese name? You’re Kevin,” he says through clenched teeth. “Just Kevin, the second to follow me as number one, and you will be nothing more.”_ )

 

He wonders…

 

(He wonders…)

 

He wonders what would have happened if he didn’t go. If he didn’t go, maybe

maybe

Riko wouldn’t have stepped with his foot

right on top of Kevin’s hand

and the weight and strength of his force wouldn’t have

crushed

his bones.

 

(It makes a sickening crack.)

 

 

 

 

 

He runs to Wymack ( _his dad, but not really, not ever_ ). Wymack puts him in his living room and turns on the TV. They eat sandwiches from Subway and drink sweet coke, but Kevin can’t concentrate. His gaze keeps on unfocusing, like an old camera ready for the trash, and his mind keeps collapsing on itself. He doesn’t realize he’s looking at the bookshelf covering the wall behind the TV before Wymack follows his gaze and points towards it.

“You read?” Wymack says. “I could get you one, if you can hold it with one hand.”

Kevin laughs through the tears.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a play on Shakespears' line "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", because I think I'm clever.
> 
> All comments and kudos are highly appreciated! <3


End file.
